A nice, leisurely, stroll through 26 miles of Old Ore Road at Big Bend National Park. I attended a motorcycle rally with about 100 others called "Around the Bend 2022".

This place is vast, harsh, and unforgiving. It's stunningly beautiful, and awful at the same time. It was 96 degrees. I went through about 6 liters of water a day on the bike, and still ended up dehydrated.

You don't take chances here. Our group had two riders with broken legs. In one case it took 2.5 hours for the park rangers to get to them, 3 hours in the ranger's truck to get to the road, a 2 hour ambulance ride to the medical center, and an hour helicopter ride to the hospital for surgery.

I did about 350 miles in 2 days. Had an amazing time, from which I'm still recovering.

Looks amazing – thanks for sharing. I’m on the cusp of going ADV - really enjoy watching others who have experience. Learn mode …

Perfect description. Spent a week there with my wife. Before cell phones. You are right about help being some distance away. Same time of year. One of the least visited parks.

The night sky was amazing. It’s been a while since I’ve been somewhere remote enough that you can actually see the Milky Way.

It’s a moving experience that evokes some complex reactions.

It’s been a lot of time in the Rockies. Nothing like being 9000+ feet up an altitude on a clear night. All the satellites zipping by, constellations and for sure the Milky Way.


I am still naïvely surprised when I meet people who have never seen the Milky Way.

Great video!
We went there last Spring and drove that road in our 4x4 expedition rig. My wife learned how to spot my rig on that road.

If you want more remoteness go to Big Bend Ranch State Park virtually next door. Truly a remote place but great riding and remoteness.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
And if you have money. Go stay a few days at the Cibollo Creek ranch.

https://www.cibolocreekranch.com/

Beautiful trip.

Thanks for the film.

Big Bend is awesome. I spent Memorial Day weekend there in 2017 by myself.

The road leading up to Santa Elana canyon had just been washed out the weekend prior so it had been blocked off adding an additional couple of miles or so to the hike from the next nearest overlook, but luck of luck I had my bike with me. So I got to the trailhead into the canyon first, by a lot.

I might as well have been the only human being on the planet. No road noise, no airplanes overhead, no evidence of people in any way except the path, just the sound of the wind and the river. Magnificent.

And then my car’s A/C broke on my way out of the park. That part sucked, I couldn’t decide if 125F with the windows up was worse than windy 115F in the face with the windows down. It’s a miracle I didn’t get heatstroke.

I camped there in 1970 on a cross country trip. We were setting up camp when a ranger pulled up, chatted with us a bit. It was the night of a full moon and he and his girlfriend were going to be camping above us, he said he'd flash a light at 10 PM and he did. I don't remember seeing anyone else while there.

I took my two daughters camping there after Christmas this past year. We had a remote campsite right on the Rio Grande. The only other campsite was empty. We were truly alone, or so I thought, several hours into the desert. About an hour after dark vehicles started coming in to our area and the illegals were coming across the river like rats. We packed up and left. Had to sleep at a picnic area on the side of the road.

Bulldog, what are you riding? I can't tell from the video.

quote:

Originally posted by rsbolo:
Bulldog, what are you riding? I can't tell from the video.

2020 Triumph Tiger 900.

got a bit nervous when you encountered the forest circus rig

I've been to BBNP many times. The first was in Spring of about 2006 I think. There for a few years, the wife and I were making it a holiday tradition, alternating Thanksgiving and Christmas (depending on whether we had her kids or not). It's a phenomenally beautiful and remote park. I remember a solo trip I took over New Years in about 2008 or 2009, did sunrise pics at the mouth of Santa Elena Canyon.